Welcome to the Hog Blog, a blog chronicling minor-league baseball in the Lehigh Valley. Tom Housenick, The Morning Call's IronPigs beat writer, has been at The Morning Call since 2008. In a previous lifetime, he was at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic talking with future Phillies Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard, among many others.
He’ll now be spending his summers in search of who the Phillies are hoping to be the next Chase Utley and Cole Hamels plus any outfielder who catch and hit. What he really hopes to find are the next Mariano Rivera, Todd Helton and Jim Thome --- great human beings who happened to be great at this sport.
He spent the last five years covering Colonial League football, college basketball and high school track & field.

Left-hander Jesse Biddle and righty Severion Gonzalez will anchor the Reading Fightin Phils' pitching staff when the regular season begins later this week

Biddle is the Phillies' second-best prospect, according to Baseball America. Gonzalez is ranked ninth.

In all, there are 18 players who are returning to the Double-A Fightin Phils and 20 players who were originally drafted by the Philles.

Biddle returns to Reading after a 2013 season where he was 5-14 with a 3.64 ERA in 138.1 innings. The left-handed pitcher started a league-leading 27 games in the Eastern League last season. A 2013 Futures Game Selection, Biddle was among Eastern League leaders in complete games (T-2nd, 2), strikeouts (3rd, 154), and ERA (9th, 3.64 ERA).

Biddle will be joined in the starting rotation by Paul Owens Award winner Gonzalez. The 22-year-old saw time in Clearwater (A+) and Lakewood (A) before making a start for Reading on the final day of the season. In 25 games (14 starts) across the three levels, Gonzalez was 7-5 with a 2.00 ERA with 119 strikeouts and 22 walks. The right-handed pitcher allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of those 14 starts.

Garner, who spent the majority of 2013 with Clearwater, made two starts at the conclusion of last season with the Fightins. Milner was 12-7 with a 3.83 ERA in 25 starts with the Threshers, where he tied for first in the Florida State League in wins (12), third in strikeouts (108), and tied for third in innings (143.1). Spending most of his season in Clearwater, Paulino was 7-6 with a 4.56 ERA in 31 appearances.

Tommy Joseph and Sebastian Valle return as the catchers. Joseph looks to rebound from a concussion-plagued 2013 that saw him sidelined for most of the season. Prior to 2013, the 22-year old was the third-best prospect in the Phillies system according to Baseball America. Valle is coming off a season in Reading that saw him slug 12 home runs and 41 RBIs while recording 17 extra-base hits.

Three familiar faces will once again patrol the outfield at FirstEnergy Stadium as 40-man roster members Kelly Dugan and Zach Collier are joined by former first-round pick Anthony Hewitt.

A second-round pick in 2009, Dugan slammed a career-high 20 home runs between Clearwater and Reading in 2013. Collier looks to build off his torrid month of August last season where he hit .327 with a .433 OBP, five triples, and 10 RBIs, earning Phillies Minor League Player of the Month honors. Hewitt set a career high in home runs last season with 16, including seven in June.

An Eastern League All-Star second baseman last season, Cartwright hit .254 in 128 games for Reading, bolstered by an April where he hit .326 (28-for-86) in 21 games. Duran comes back a season removed from his Double-A debut where he hit .225 in 117 games with 19 doubles. Former major leaguer Tolbert fills out the veteran members of the infield. In his one month with the Fightins last season, Tolbert reached base safely in 17 of his 25 games played.

Alonso spent the past two seasons with Clearwater where the University of Delaware product won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for minor league second basemen after posting a .996 fielding percentage in 117 games. He also had his most productive year offensively, reaching career highs in at-bats (453), runs (70), hits (118), doubles (24), triples (2), RBIs (43), and walks (59). Drafted in 2012, Serritella hit .244 in his second professional season and recorded an 11-game hitting streak from April 15-26. Stassi joins the Fightins after hitting .295 with Clearwater in 2013. The California native hit .300 (21-for-70) with runners in scoring position.

Reading franchise single-season saves leader Justin Friend leads the way in the bullpen. In 2013, the right-handed reliever spent most of his season in Lehigh Valley where he went 5-4 with a 3.79 ERA and one save.

In 48 games with Reading last season, Knigge set career highs in both strike outs (55) and innings pitched (65.2) while recording a 4.25 ERA for the club. Colvin will once again prove to be a versatile arm after a season where the Louisiana native split time between the starting rotation and bullpen. The southpaw Wright will see his first full season as a reliever after being converted from his starting role midseason in 2013. Johnson adds to the left-handed presence in the bullpen where he’ll return after posting a 1.76 ERA in his final 30 games with the Fightins in 2013.

Possessing what some scouts call the most powerful arm in the Phillies farm system, Giles averaged 13.89 strikeouts over nine innings in 2013 with Clearwater where he also recorded six saves. Righty O’Sullivan looks to continue his successful 2013 season with the Threshers after setting career highs in innings (75), strikeouts (45), and games played (53). Acquired from the Boston Red Sox for utlity man John McDonald last season, Ogando spent all of 2013 in Salem where he was 2-3 with a 4.09 ERA.

Pitcher Ryan Demmin and outfielders Aaron Altherr and Jiwan James begin 2014 on the disabled list.

Manager Dusty Wathan returns to the club for this third season as Fightins skipper. Pitching coach David Lundquist is back for his second season in Reading, and new hitting coach Rob Ducey. Athletic trainer Jonathan May and strength coach Justin Miloszewski round out the coaching staff.